TalkCarswell.com

EU-US trade deal - is it going to be used to try to scupper the sceptics?

Last week, David Cameron and Barack Obama discussed Britain's relations with the EU.

Could it be that they discussed the pending EU-US trade agreement, and how it could be used to strengthen the case for Britain staying in?

As I write in today's Sun, I suspect that when he finally delivers his Europe speech, "David Cameron will announce a pending US-EU trade agreement", and invoke it to strengthen the case for remaining part of the EU.

"Years in the pipeline, this US-EU trade deal is going to be used to try to scupper the sceptics.

"Look", the Washington and Whitehall establishment will say, "being in the EU now means that Britain has access to over half the world's market! Quitting the EU would put you on the outside".

Any progress on a US-EU trade deal would be great news. If we had been outside the EU, we could have concluded such a deal years ago.

But the announcement of a US-EU trade agreement does not undermine the case for a British exit. It strengthens it.

If the EU is able to agree a free trade deal with the United States, without America having to join the Single Market, then why not Britain, too? If tiny Switzerland, fast-growing Turkey and the world's superpower can all now have trade access to the EU, without being governed by Brussels, why not us?"